Dead drift marabou 'dad

Another fly that has put a lot of big fish in my net has been tim haddon's dead drift crayfish (full instructions: part1 and part2)-- however it started becoming a bit of a chore to sit down and kick out even just a half dozen of these puppies so I started experimenting with my own. I started tying something closer to a woolley bugger, not bothering with a pulled over carapace and then moved back towards a more defined claw structure. Anyways here's my version of a dead drift crawdad that worked wonders this season, and I think it's a pretty simple tie:

DEAD DRIFT 'BOU-'DAD

MATERIALS:

thread: Danville olive or brown 6/0
hook: #4-6 TMC 3761
eyes: small or med black bead chain
hotspot/feelers: orange rabbit w/ orange krystal flash
underbody: .015 in lead wire
dubbing: dark olive rabbit dubbing
pinchers/chelipeds: olive marabou (posted)
rib: small black ultra wire ("wiggled" through hackle)
legs/pereiopods: webby brown saddle hackle feather

FULL STEPS
(click read more)


1. mount hook, start thread at eye and wrap a base
back to about the barb-- tie in bead chain eyes at that point,
add a drop of cement to secure eyes


2. cut a tuft of orange rabbit (say, off a zonker strip)
and tie in over eyes


3. tie in a couple of pieces of orange crystal flash slightly
longer than the rabbit


4. dub over tie downs, making figure 8's around the eyes
(I like to scruff with a toothbrush at this point)


5. wrap lead over the remaining length of the body,
cover lead with thread and add some glue


6. tie in two tufts of marabou behind the eyes-- I like to
post the bases to splay the marabou more definitely


7. wet the marabou and PINCH off the marabou to a desired
length-- don't cut the marabou (it will look ugly)


8. tie in the black wire and a webby saddle hackle feather
by the base of the feather (tapers opposite of a woolly bugger)


9. dub a tapered body over the lead


10. palmer the hackle, tie off, and then wrap forward the
wire, working it back and forth to avoid trapping too much hackle
tie off and whip finish

11. scruff the legs up with a toothbrush (I like to arrange them so the
majority of the fibers splay to the sides) THEN add a drop of head cement


THE FINISHED FLY!
(not my cleanest tie but it's fishy enough)

The view from underwater:

I think this fly is a little more general than tim haddon's dead drift crayfish as, on the swing, the legs flatten out and pulse much like a standard woolly bugger! Give it a try during late summer when there is a noticible number of molting crawdads and let me know how it worked for you! Cheers.